


The Man Beside You

by MusicalRaven



Category: Game Grumps, Real Person Fiction, Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Detectives, Confessions, Fluff without Plot, Kissing, M/M, Panic Attacks, Romantic Fluff, This is romantic as shit for no reason, because why not?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-14
Updated: 2017-05-14
Packaged: 2018-10-31 15:17:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,437
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10902009
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MusicalRaven/pseuds/MusicalRaven
Summary: Arin is being distant, Dan is a worried puppy, and oxygen is a limited resource apparently.





	The Man Beside You

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this in a fuel of late night/early morning inspiration. Sorry if it sucks but I don't really care. Woo

"Arin?" Dan called, hoping to catch his attention before he left. Of course, this meant catching the attention of the entire precinct as well. Not that he could help it. Arin was on his way out to question a suspect, but Dan was determined to talk to him now.

Thankfully, Arin turned his head, catching Danny's eye. Dan made a 'come here' motion, and Arin raised an eyebrow at him. Out of the corner of Dan's eye, he could see other detectives glancing back and forth at them, not even trying to hide their curiosity. Dan pushed away the compulsion to roll his eyes, instead continuing to gesture to Arin to get the fuck over here. Arin pursed his lips together, obviously annoyed that Dan was pulling him away from work, but as expected, he conceded anyways. Dan smiled as Arin clomped his way to his side.

"What is it, Dan?" Arin practically snapped, blinking slowly up at Dan. His fingers drilled against his leg, the impatience seeping off of him. Dan chose to ignore all this however, smiling wider instead.

"Can we talk for a minute?" He leaned forward slightly, glancing around the room at the eager eyes then back at Arin. Arin followed his cursory gaze, sighing when he met Dan's eyes again.

"Yeah, yeah, sure." He waved a hand. "Lead the way, partner." 

Dan nodded, turning on his heel and making his way downstairs to the locker rooms. Since most of the staff was currently involved with paper work, he knew there'd be little to no one down here, making it a perfect place to talk to Arin privately. He'd been worried lately, as Arin had been much more distant than usual. Not that Arin was ever great about talking to Dan about things. He mostly cracked jokes and glossed over questions about his personal life with details about the current case. It infuriated Dan to no end. He wanted desperately to get to know his partner, but he'd been working with him for a year now and he didn't even know what his middle name was.

Regardless and Arin's guarded ways, this week he'd been even worse than normal. Not responding when Dan talked, ignoring his calls, going on calls without him - there was something Dan was missing but he didn't know what. So he was going to try to pull it out of Arin, whatever it took…or until Arin walked away. Hopefully he wouldn't. Dan was really worried about him.

"What's this about?" Arin questioned as soon as Dan stopped walking. He took a slow breath, calming himself before turning around.

"What's been going on with you lately, man? You keep being all…" Dan gestured at him abstractly, making Arin raise an eyebrow again.

"Uh, nothing? I'm the same as always." Arin leaned back against a set of lockers, crossing his arms over his chest leisurely. 

"No, you've been ignoring me. I want to know why." Dan mirrored him, arms crossed a bit more defiantly.

Arin sighed. "Dan-"

"No. Arin seriously, talk to me. Please." Dan said, his face crumpling. "I just- I'm worried about you and you never tell me how you feel or anything. Am I that bad a partner to you?"

Arin frowned, shaking his head immediately. "What? Fuck no. Dan, you're like, the best partner I've ever had. You're fucking awesome at this job, man. I don't know why you're not promoted higher to be honest."

Dan blinked. "I-thank you."

Arin waved a hand. "Nah, man. It's the truth."

"So then why?" Arin opened his mouth but Dan quickly interrupted him. "The truth, Arin. If we're gonna be real fucking partners, you cant keep hiding things from me. It worries me."

The corner of Arin's mouth twitched in a smile. "You're quite the care bear."

"And proud of it." Dan said, smiling softly.

Arin ran a hand through his hair, his mouth curling back into a frown. He stretched his neck up, staring at the ceiling with an intensity that Dan only really saw from guilty criminals. After several long seconds, Arin let out a loud breath, eyes still fixed firmly on the ceiling. "Look, as I said, you're an awesome partner. You're really good at your job. You make me feel the need to better myself everyday." He glanced back at Dan. "It's just-" He pursed his lips and looked back at the ceiling. Dan tried very hard to stay quiet and still. Arin was actually opening up. There was no way he was going to fuck this up by pushing him.

It took another whole minute for Arin to speak again. He chewed on his lip thoughtfully during this minute, as if trying to put together the words in his head. "You remember the Fredrick case?"

Dan blinked, a bit confused. "Uh, yeah? We finished that up like two weeks ago. Jealous lover couldn't handle sharing his affair with her husband and killed her. Open and shut case."

Arin sighed, finally looking at Dan again. "Yeah well, you also remember when he were driving on the way to question the husband?"

Dan quirked a smile. "Vividly. You challenged me to a sing off since the radio was broken. Bet me ten bucks, _which_ you still owe me, by the way."

"Yeah, yeah." Arin waved a hand and bit his lip. "But, uh, just- during that…" Arin sighed. "Fuck, man, I can't have you looking at me while I say this."

Dan couldn't help the laugh that fell from his lips. "I- dude, why?"

"Just can you, like, look at something else?" Arin shifted his weight, looking more and more uncomfortable. To be honest, even if Arin wanted Dan to do a handstand while blindfolded for him to talk, Dan would do it. He was pretty desperate. He didn't really understand why, though. Somehow, Arin had become Dan's rock. He shared everything with him, even without the same on the other side. As much as he wished for that, he couldn't help himself from pouring out his heart to Arin, trusting him with his hurt and his pain and his joy. Arin was such a part of Dan's life that to be so distant from him so quickly was hurting his heart, in ways he wasn't exactly comfortable admitting. So yeah, he was desperate, but he didn't really care.

"Fine, I'll look at the lockers." Dan said, turning to face them. "But I swear, I better be getting that ten bucks for sure now." He tried to keep his voice light. He hoped he succeeded, because trying to starve off the thoughts that Arin might have cancer or something was not working well.

"Okay, so, uh," Arin cleared his throat. "What I was going to say was, you know, during the sing off, I- when you started singing, I couldn't stop staring at you. Like, I wanted to look away but I couldn't. Kinda glad I wasn't the one driving, or that would have been really bad." Arin cleared his throat again. Huh. Not anything like Dan had been thinking. Okay, he could work with this. He closed his eyes, focusing on not looking at Arin. "So, I was staring, cause I'm a creep apparently." Arin paused. "And your voice. Like, I had only heard you sing with the radio and I knew you were a good singer but damn. It was like fucking angels were driving me, it was so good." Another pause. "And I just, I was staring, listening to heaven open and I realized that I-" Dan swore he could hear Arin audibly rethink his next words. The seconds ticked by, as Arin weighed his choices. "I realized, I might…I might kinda love you."

The oxygen must have been sucked from the room, because suddenly, Dan couldn't breathe. He sucked in a breath, eyes blinking open to stare at the lockers. He sucked in another breath, trying desperately to get oxygen to his lungs. Then there were hands on his shoulders, and Arin was asking what was wrong. Dan shook his head, unable to answer as he tried to suck in another breath. He felt Arin rubbing his back, words he couldn't comprehend being murmured as he was lowered to the floor. Dan's head spun as he finally managed to take an actual breath. He gulped it down, wheezing. Arin's hand continued rubbing, the words finally starting to make sense in Dan's confused brain.

"I got you man, I got you. Slow breaths. You're alright. You're-" Arin was saying, when Dan interrupted him.

"You mean that?" Dan managed to say, turning his head to meet Arin's eye. He blinked, hand freezing on Dan's back.

"Uh, yeah, I mean, unless you're not fine-" He said, speaking slowly.

"No, no, I- the loving part?" Dan's voice took on a nervous squeak at the end. His breathes were evening out, although he still felt the grip of panic on him.

"I don't…have to?" Arin slowly went back to stroking Dan's back, obviously unsure of himself. "I can just love you like a bro. A partner. Uh, the kind of partner who helps with cases, not the uh- the other one."

Dan felt like…well actually, he didn't know what he felt like. Did he even like Arin that way? Maybe? He was his best friend. All he really had besides his family. He loved talking to him. Being near him. Solving cases together and joking around, with the occasional fake flirting here and there. Except…had it been fake? What was even real life anymore? Oh look, he'd stopped breathing again. Great.

"Oh shit, do I need to call an ambulance? Are you dying?"

Dan shook his head. "No. I-I think I'm j-just," He sucked in a breath again, coughing. "Think I'm h-having my f-first panic attack. No b-biggie."

"Shit. I'm so sorry. Fuck, I didn't mean-" He continued rubbing Dan's back, eyes wide and worried. Dan didn't like that look on his face, but he was having a hard time concentrating on anything but panic. Grounding. He needed grounding. He'd heard that somewhere. So, he picked the thing nearest to him. He turned slightly and grabbed Arin around his middle, hugging himself to his chest. He could feel Arin tense up, although he hoped just from surprise. He curled his legs up around Arin's, shivering slightly. He focused on taking slow breaths, a need to regain some semblance of control overtaking him.

And then he felt Arin's arms circle him, the hand on his back moving to softly pet his head. He shivered again, clutching at Arin as he finally started to control his scattered brain. He could hear Arin murmur soft reassurances, hand caressing his curls. He sighed, eyes shut tight as his breathing started to even. 

They sat there in silence for several minutes, Arin continuing to stroke Dan's head. Slowly, Dan began to release his tight hold around Arin, although he did not let go completely.

"How do you feel?" Arin asked quietly.

"Alright," Came Dan's muffled reply. He tilted his head up so he could see Arin's face. It was scrunched up with worry, which made him frown. "Hey, seriously, I'm okay now. I swear."

"You just had a panic attack, dude. That's nothing light. Especially since it was my fault." He shook his head. "I shouldn't have said anything."

"The fuck you shouldn't." Dan shifted in Arin's lap, sitting up a bit more so his face was level with Arin's. He could hear Arin swallow, eyes flickering to his lips for a spilt second before quickly flickering back up to meet his eyes. "Ar, I- even though I just almost passed out there like some Victorian love interest, that doesn't mean you shouldn't have said what you did." He sighed. "I'd rather know, then have you be so distant from me."

"But you- you don't feel the same." Arin said, a sad slump beginning in his shoulders. "I know you don't. And I don't want us to be awkward around each other. I really don't."

"Hey," Dan rested his arms loosely around Arin, letting his legs curl up into Arin's lap. He was aware this was a weird position to be in, and that if anyone came in here right now it would be awkward as hell, but he tried not to think about that. "Arin, just cause I have no idea what I'm feeling doesn't mean I don't feel the same way."

"Oh." Arin swallowed again, eyes flickering away. Dan, however, was suddenly struck with an idea. A stupid one, but an idea.

"Ar?" He leaned forward a little, chest pressing very gently against Arin's. Arin's eyes quickly met Dan's again, his cheeks flushing a slight red.

"Uh, yeah?" He licked his lips. Dan followed the movement with his eyes.

"Maybe we could try something." He muttered, eyes tracing Arin's lips. "See how I feel?"

"U-uh…" Arin froze, eyes wide. "What-" Dan didn't let him finish, leaning forward the last inch to press their lips together. It was feather light, barely qualifying as a kiss. When Dan pulled back, Arin was still frozen, although looking quite a bit more dazed now than before.

"Huh." Dan licked his lips. "Can we do that again?"

"I guess?" Arin managed to say before Dan leaned forward again. This kiss was a little harder, although still gentle. Arin's fingers, still tangled in Dan's curls, tightened. Dan let his hands drift to Arin's hips. Their breathes mingled as they kissed again and again, each one careful. A charting of new territory.

Arin was the one to pull back this time, breathing a bit uneven. He jut stared at Dan, as if he couldn't believe this was reality. Dan reached up and touched his own lips, swallowing hard.

"Well," Dan said, a smile slowly beginning to take over his face. "I do believe I felt something there."

"Oh?" Arin's eyes seemed locked on Dan's lips now and Dan's smile only widened at this.

"Maybe we should do some more tests." Dan murmured, raising an eyebrow.

"I still have to go question that Spensky guy." Arin murmured back.

"Can that wait?"

"It can."

"Good." Dan leaned forward again, but paused just shy of Arin's lips. "Hey, Ar?"

"Yeah?"

"What's your middle name?"

Arin met Dan's eye, obviously confused. "Uh, Joseph. Why?"

Dan huffed a laugh and shook his head. "No reason. No reason at all."

Arin rolled his eyes. "Less talking. More kissing." He tugged lightly on Dan's curls, making Dan laugh again.

"Impatient little shit, you are."

Arin chuckled. "You have no idea."

**Author's Note:**

> Did this have a point? Any sense of realism? A point to keep me up writing til one in the morning?
> 
> No to all three! But hey, fluff is fluff. Hope you enjoyed it regardless. Now Imma go sleep.


End file.
